And how to keep them calm, safe, and happy
Has your pet been licking or picking at their fur or feathers?
Acting aggressively toward people or other animals?
Barking, meowing, or squawking excessively?
Maybe you're worried because your pet is refusing food… avoiding eye contact…pacing, panting, or drooling.
Any of these behaviors can indicate that your pet feels unsafe, insecure, or anxious. Those feelings can lead to hyperactivity, irritability, and self-destructive or even aggressive behaviors.
But they’re also signs of a deeper issue… there’s something wrong with your pet’s gut. xBut don’t worry, you can help your beloved companion get back to feeling happy and healthy. Keep reading to find out how.
The Secret to Your Pet’s Inner Life
Just like you, your pet has a gut microbiome that affects every aspect of their health… including mood, energy, and behavior.
The gut microbiome contains trillions of bacteria, both beneficial bacteria (probiotics) and harmful pathogens. Probiotic bacteria dominate in a healthy, well-balanced gut. And they contribute to your pet’s mental well-being in many important ways.[1]
The most important effects come through a direct connection between their gut microbiome and their brain called (not surprisingly) the gut-brain axis.[2]
This communication superhighway runs in both directions, affecting brain function, stress responses, and gut health.[3] So what’s going on in your pet’s gut influences their brain function and emotional responses. And their emotions and stress levels affect their gut.
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That’s why you’ll notice when your pet has obvious gut issues, like diarrhea or bad gas, they don’t act like themselves. Gut upset can make them cranky, tired, and even defensive. On the flip side, when your pet is upset it can take a toll on their gut comfort. Think about the last time you took them to the vet… or there were fireworks… or a terrible thunderstorm… It’s quite likely they experienced gut issues immediately after.
But it’s how the gut sends messages over the gut-brain axis to direct emotional and behavioral health that gets really interesting.
4 Ways the Gut Informs Pet Mood and Behavior
Probiotic bacteria create and influence the perfect mix of brain chemicals to keep your pet happy, well-behaved, and with just the right amount of energy. These beneficial bacteria produce crucial neurotransmitters and also tell the brain, over the gut-brain axis, how to use them in a positive way. The most important compounds produced by a healthy gut microbiome include:
-
Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) contribute enormously to emotional and behavioral health. They modulate the nervous system and improve gut-brain communication.[4,5] And higher levels of SCFAs have been shown to:
- Decrease depressive behaviors like social withdrawal[6]
- Alleviate stress- and anxiety-related behaviors like pacing[4]
- Improve social behaviors with people and animals[7]
- Supply up to 75% of energy[8]
- Serotonin, the “happiness” hormone, is primarily produced in the gut—at least 70% of it. This neurotransmitter boosts mood and memory and helps regulate your pet’s body clock. It positively affects your pet’s social interactions, aggression levels, anxiety, learning, and overall behavior.[9]
- Dopamine gives your pet the emotional boost that comes from rewards like snuggles, toys, and treats. This helps reinforce positive behaviors and training. It also contributes to your pet’s happiness.[10,11]
- GABA, known as the calmness chemical, helps tame anxiety. It relaxes the nervous system to help your pet manage stress more calmly and sleep more soundly.[12,13]
When your pet’s gut is in healthy balance, full of a diverse population of beneficial probiotic bacteria, these compounds are abundant. And you’ll see a happy, energetic (but not hyper), calm, friendly pet.
But if the gut microbiome falls out of balance, all sorts of problems can arise.
Gut Imbalances Cause Anxiety and Aggression
When your pet’s gut microbiome becomes imbalanced—a condition called dysbiosis—it changes the messages being sent to their brain.[14] And the impact that has on their behavior and emotional state is honestly astounding.
In dysbiosis, pathogens dominate and crowd out probiotic bacteria. That reduces the production of SCFAs and calming neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA. Plus, pathogens create compounds that can chip away at your dog’s physical, mental, and emotional health.
That undermines their feelings of safety and security, which can trigger anxious and aggressive behaviors. Dysbiosis can interfere with healthy energy production, so your pet may seem listless and fatigued. It can even create compounds that trigger hyperactivity and unusual aggression.[15,16,17]
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for dysbiosis to set in and allow pathogens to run rampant in your pet’s microbiome. It can be caused by exposure to pesticides on a neighbor’s lawn… eating “people” food or trash… loud noises like thunder… or even separation anxiety.
Many of these triggers are unavoidable; they’re just part of life. That’s why regular support with a quality pet probiotic supplement can be so helpful in keeping your pet’s gut microbiome in healthy balance. But, for true change to happen, you need to be sure you’re choosing the right kind of probiotics…
The Right Way to Balance Your Pet’s Gut
Probiotic supplements can help balance your pet’s gut… as long as you give them animal-focused strains. And those animal-appropriate strains can work for any pet from cockatiels to Cocker spaniels.
The best strains for pets include Pediococcus acidilactici, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus licheniformis, which are known as universal animal microbiome colonizers.[18,19]
Back when these strains were plentiful in the environment, your animal would have hunted or foraged for these particular probiotic strains. They work so well because they're super hardy, and maintain their integrity even in extreme heat and cold. It’s how they survive in virtually any environment where animals exist.
This natural ability to survive also protects the probiotics against the harsh digestive enzymes and stomach acid of an animal’s digestive system. So these probiotics arrive in the gut alive and ready to get to work—the only way they can possibly be effective for your pet.
When you give your pet a probiotic supplement that’s built to survive AND is specifically formulated for animal microbiomes, it can transform their gut health for the better.
A clinical study that included both healthy dogs and dogs with serious digestive issues showed that animal-friendly probiotics made a remarkable difference.[20] The dogs were given a probiotic formula containing Bacillus subtilis HU58, Bacillus licheniformis, and Pediococcus acidilactici. All of the dogs in the study got that probiotic formula for 30 days. By the end of the month, the digestive issues were dramatically reduced, and in some cases disappeared in the dogs with dysbiosis.
And a study involving cats[21] found that Pediococcus acidilactici helped enrich the felines’ gut microbiomes with a diverse population of beneficial bacteria. It also supported SCFA production, having a positive effect on the cats’ gut and overall health.
And when probiotics help keep your pet’s gut microbiome in good balance, they’ll have a healthy supply of SCFAs and neurotransmitters like serotonin available to balance their emotions and behaviors too.[22]
Just Thrive Pet Health Products
Just Pets Probiotic for Happy, Calm Pets
You want your pet to feel calm and happy. Free from unnecessary stress and anxiety that can hamper their quality of life and trigger unwanted behaviors. Feeling energetic without tipping into hyperactivity.
All of that starts in their gut microbiome. And no matter what type of pet you have, the right probiotics can help keep their gut microbiome in healthy balance.
Just Pets Probiotic contains three strains of clinically-proven probiotics known to survive and support your pet’s gut microbiome:
- Bacillus subtilis HU58™
- Bacillus licheniformis SL-307
- Pediococcus acidilactici
Adding just one capsule to your pet’s food daily can help maintain healthy balance in the gut microbiome and support healthy immune responses. The dosing is the same for all animals, regardless of their size.
Still on the fence about Just Pets Probiotic? We’re confident that you’ll notice a positive difference in your precious pet when you use Just Pets as directed, but if you’re not 100% tail-waggingly happy, we’ve got your back.
If you’re not completely satisfied with your Just Thrive purchase for ANY reason, you can take advantage of our “Bottom of the Bottle” Money Back Guarantee.
Love your Just Thrive purchase, or request a full product refund at any time… Whether it’s 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months later… Even if the bottle is empty!
Sources
- Lee D, Goh TW, Kang MG, Choi HJ, Yeo SY, Yang J, Huh CS, Kim YY, Kim Y. Perspectives and advances in probiotics and the gut microbiome in companion animals. J Anim Sci Technol. 2022 Mar;64(2):197-217. doi: 10.5187/jast.2022.e8. Epub 2022 Mar 31. PMID: 35530406; PMCID: PMC9039956.
- Sacoor C, Marugg JD, Lima NR, Empadinhas N, Montezinho L. Gut-Brain Axis Impact on Canine Anxiety Disorders: New Challenges for Behavioral Veterinary Medicine. Vet Med Int. 2024 Jan 23;2024:2856759.
- Wiley NC, Dinan TG, Ross RP, Stanton C, Clarke G, Cryan JF. The microbiota-gut-brain axis as a key regulator of neural function and the stress response: Implications for human and animal health. J Anim Sci. 2017 Jul;95(7):3225-3246. doi: 10.2527/jas.2016.1256. PMID: 28727115.
- Sacoor C, Marugg JD, Lima NR, Empadinhas N, Montezinho L. Gut-Brain Axis Impact on Canine Anxiety Disorders: New Challenges for Behavioral Veterinary Medicine. Vet Med Int. 2024 Jan 23;2024:2856759. doi: 10.1155/2024/2856759. PMID: 38292207; PMCID: PMC10827376.
- Pilla R, Suchodolski JS. The Role of the Canine Gut Microbiome and Metabolome in Health and Gastrointestinal Disease. Front Vet Sci. 2020 Jan 14;6:498.
- Tang CF, Wang CY, Wang JH, Wang QN, Li SJ, Wang HO, Zhou F, Li JM. Short-Chain Fatty Acids Ameliorate Depressive-like Behaviors of High Fructose-Fed Mice by Rescuing Hippocampal Neurogenesis Decline and Blood-Brain Barrier Damage. Nutrients. 2022 Apr 29;14(9):1882. doi: 10.3390/nu14091882. PMID: 35565849; PMCID: PMC9105414.
- Liou CW, Cheng SJ, Yao TH, Lai TT, Tsai YH, Chien CW, Kuo YL, Chou SH, Hsu CC, Wu WL. Microbial metabolites regulate social novelty via CaMKII neurons in the BNST. Brain Behav Immun. 2023 Oct;113:104-123. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2023.06.029. Epub 2023 Jun 29. PMID: 37393058.
- Von Englehardt W, et al. Absorption of short-chain fatty acids and their role in the hindgut of monogastric animals. Animal Feed Science and Technology. Volume 23, Issues 1–3, April 1989, Pages 43-53
- Bacqué-Cazenave J, Bharatiya R, Barrière G, Delbecque JP, Bouguiyoud N, Di Giovanni G, Cattaert D, De Deurwaerdère P. Serotonin in Animal Cognition and Behavior. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 28;21(5):1649. doi: 10.3390/ijms21051649. PMID: 32121267; PMCID: PMC7084567.
- Barron AB, Søvik E, Cornish JL. The roles of dopamine and related compounds in reward-seeking behavior across animal phyla. Front Behav Neurosci. 2010 Oct 12;4:163. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00163. PMID: 21048897; PMCID: PMC2967375.
- Dilruba Hasin, Zahoor A Pampori, Ovais Aarif, KH Bulbul, Aasif A Sheikh, Irfan Ahmad Bhat. Happy hormones and their significance in animals and man. Int J Vet Sci Anim Husbandry 2018;3(5):100-103.
- Tasan RO, Bukovac A, Peterschmitt YN, Sartori SB, Landgraf R, Singewald N, Sperk G. Altered GABA transmission in a mouse model of increased trait anxiety. Neuroscience. 2011 Jun 2;183(7):71-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.03.051. Epub 2011 Mar 31. PMID: 21458543; PMCID: PMC3092983.
- Gottesmann C. GABA mechanisms and sleep. Neuroscience. 2002;111(2):231-9. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4522(02)00034-9. PMID: 11983310.
- Pilla, Rachel et al. The Gut Microbiome of Dogs and Cats, and the Influence of Diet. Veterinary Clinics: Small Animal Practice, Volume 51, Issue 3, 605 – 621
- Kiełbik P, Witkowska-Piłaszewicz O. The Relationship between Canine Behavioral Disorders and Gut Microbiome and Future Therapeutic Perspectives. Animals (Basel). 2024 Jul 12;14(14):2048.
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- Li Y, Ali I, Lei Z, Li Y, Yang M, Yang C, Li L. Effect of a Multistrain Probiotic on Feline Gut Health through the Fecal Microbiota and Its Metabolite SCFAs. Metabolites. 2023 Feb 3;13(2):228. doi: 10.3390/metabo13020228. PMID: 36837847; PMCID: PMC9962843.
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